Monday, October 26, 2009

Homes of Hope

Jesus brought us to Ensenada early Friday morning.... no, really, Jesus brought us on his bus.

Once we arrived we unpacked at the YWAM compound and found our rooms - we girls got a great view of the ocean from our bedroom window.

Our church brought down 21 people, ranging from 8 years old to....well, we'll just say grandparent age! Men, women, youth and children all of us with the objective to build a home for a family in Ensenada. Some of us were mechanically inclined, several were construction experts, but most of us were amateurs, or worse!

Then, it was off to the job sight where we met the family that we would be building a home for. They were wonderful, I fell in love with the girls and their cousins by the end of the weekend!

Unfortunately, the first day I did not take many pictures of the construction process because I was busy with a hammer most of the day. I was able to help build the framing, put up the siding and install the drywall - oh, and did I mention I got to operate the gun/hammer that shot nails into the cement foundation? It was pretty fun, I had to install at .22 cartridge and then BANG shoot it off into the foundation... Hopefully I will get some pictures of the house going up from Dick Johnson who was our official photographer for the trip.

The second day, 5 of us from the team put on a toned down version of a VBS on the side of the road next to the job sight. We had crafts, face painting, games, food, puppet shows and best of all, a pinata!

We weren't sure how many kids would show up, but within minutes of setting up we had dozens and dozens of children racing over to us. Final count was upwards of 50 kids!

By the end of the second day, we had a completed house. This is the 42nd home that our church has had the opportunity to build with Homes of Hope in Ensenada - the first for Vince and I, and we can't wait to go back again.